Glass ceiling for female Hill aides?

Congress continues to have a serious gender gap in its chief of staff positions, with fewer than 180 women filling the 535 chief of staff jobs available on the Hill, according to new research.

The numbers come despite steady efforts by both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to recruit more women to the Hill through the creation of diversity offices.

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Only 35 percent of House offices employ a female chief of staff, and less than a quarter of senators do, according to an annual survey by the Women’s Campaign Forum, a situation the group calls “deficient.”

Years of data compiled by the group suggest women are still hitting a glass ceiling when it comes to rising to high-paying positions on the Hill.

Over the past four years, the number of male members who employ a female chief of staff has dropped to 20 percent in the Senate, WCF estimates, a sign that male lawmakers may need to do more to recruit female applicants.

Female House members have a much better record, which has continually improved over the past four years, but the ratio of female chiefs of staff to female members of Congress is still below 50 percent.

“This is not about kicking male chiefs of staff to the curb,” said WCF President and CEO Siobhan Bennett. “Congresswomen are doing a pretty good job of hiring women chiefs of staff, but the men are trailing far behind. It’s a little ironic. The men could benefit from that balanced perspective because men and women manage and govern and legislate differently. It’s an area of concern for us because certainly the Hill needs to be the role model for the nation.”

In general, women have traditionally had little problem securing employment on the Hill, especially entry-level positions. But in more advanced positions, including legislative director and chief of staff, their numbers drop off significantly.

But some staffers say the Hill, which often demands long hours and low pay, is inhospitable to women, who often want to raise a family around the age when they would be eligible for high-level positions. The average House chief of staff rakes in $134,000, according to the employment studies.

A POLITICO review of several House compensation studies last spring found that the number of female chiefs of staff in the House had increased by only about 6 percentage points over the past five years.

The number of female legislative directors, a second-tier position that is largely influential in the formation of policy, increased by only 1 percentage point, to 36.5 percent, in the same five-year period.

But women are eating up the middle- to lower-level jobs on the Hill, at least on the House side.

According to last year’s House Compensation Study, women filled 84 percent of executive assistant and 82 percent of scheduler jobs. These positions, which typically pay an average of $48,000 to $59,000, include orchestrating office functions and keeping tabs on a member’s schedule.